-
Source: ONE News -
Watch Video
-
Related
Elaborate plans for a national cycleway have been slashed because it is too expensive.
ONE News has uncovered documents that show the initial dream for the cycle track was so grand, it was even meant to carry the name of Sir Edmund Hillary.
However, it seems dreams are free, while cycleways are not.
Prime Minister John Key and Mark Weldon of the New Zealand Stock Exchange originally touted the cycleway as a recession-busting move, however, the idea for a cycleway from Cape Reinga to Bluff has never kicked into full gear.
There are now concerns that the $50 million earmarked for the project in the Budget will not be enough. For example, building a basic gravel cycle path costs upwards of $33,000 a kilometre, while complex things like clip-on bridges are $1 million a kilometre.
The Labour Party says the $50 million budget will not keep the project on track, however Key disagrees.
"It is still potentially, over time, a possibility," Key says. "We're just building the cycleway a bit like a patchwork quilt.
"You know, Rome wasn't built in a day and neither is the New Zealand cycleway going to be."
